The Second Carnival Parade

Welcome to the second Active Learning Blog Carnival. The number of submissions doubled from last month. I am rejuvenated every time I read about the wonderful engaging work that people are involved in.



This anatomically correct candy heart is a wonderful example of what I call "Creating Meaningful Artifacts of Learning" and the theorists call constructionism. The heart was made by Nathan Sawaya.

Debate of the month

Why Minimal Guidance During Instruction Does Not Work: An Analysis of the Failure of Constructivist, Discovery, Problem-Based, Experiential, and Inquiry-Based Teaching. http://www.cogtech.usc.edu/publications/kirschner_Sweller_Clark.pdf

Stephen Downes critiques
http://halfanhour.blogspot.com/2007/11/response-to-kirshner.html

Stephen Downes lists others responses http://halfanhour.blogspot.com/2007/11/kirschner-sweller-clark-2006-readings_12.html

What do you think? I would love to read your comments on this important discussion.

Recent Articles

Institute for Interactive Media and Learning says “Simply by changing the assessment of your subject, you can affect the way students engage with the subject content.” Note the list of resources on the right. http://www.iml.uts.edu.au/assessment/

The Journal at Queen’s University interviews Professor Jill Scott, who sees little distinction between professors and students. http://www.queensjournal.ca/story/2007-11-28/news/future-bright-academics/

From Indonesia, Learning Instructional Technology promotes E-learning in Higher Education http://chaerumandiary.blogspot.com/2007/11/e-learning-in-hgiher-education.html

Living by Design talks about using mindmaps in How to read more effectively. http://ananga.squarespace.com/ananga-living-by-design-blog/2007/11/17/how-to-read-more-effectively.html

Milton Broome asks How do we assess the impact of Second Life for Educational Purposes? http://milton-broome.blogspot.com/2007/11/how-to-assess-impact-of-second-life-for.html

I recently discovered that a lecture in Second Life can put me to sleep as fast as a lecture in real life.

The Portfolio Community of practice answers What is a philosophy of teaching statement? http://portfoliocommunity.edublogs.org/2007/11/28/what-is-a-teaching-philosophy/

Research evaluates Active Learning Through Classroom Role-Play
Simulation of National Elections for Upper-Year Comparative (Industrialized) Courses http://paquetteresearch.blogspot.com/2007/11/active-learning-through-classroom-role.html

West Valley College explains Seven Principles of Effective Teaching: A practical guide for evaluating online courses http://www.westvalley.edu/trc/seven.html

Sharp Brains writes about Cognitive Fitness – 10 Myths Debunked http://www.sharpbrains.com/blog/2007/10/30/cognitive-fitness-10-debunked-myths/

WritopiaLab is a non-profit organization that seeks to create and sustain a diverse community of young writers. In this article, the author talks about Lessons from the Newest Generation of Writers (& Thinkers) http://writopialab.blogspot.com/2007/11/lessons-from-newest-generation-of.html

K-8 Examples of Active Learning

Backyard Birder describes The childhood of John James Audubon because sometimes we need to learn from the past. http://www.backyardbirdingblog.com/the-childhood-of-john-james-audubon/

High School Examples of Active Learning

Advanced Placement Environmental Science is a wiki with ideas for teaching science http://goapes.wikispaces.com/

Math 12 is an example of a wiki created for a math class http://acrospire.pbwiki.com/

VisualMath Learning is a resource for students who need a more visual approach to learning math http://www.visualmathlearning.com/index.html

Interactive Examples of Professional Development for Teachers

Classroom 2.0 is a Ning network for teachers interested in technology. This site was nominated for an Edublog award. http://classroom20.ning.com/

EdTech Talk provides a wiki that collects a variety of downloadable audio resources http://acrospire.pbwiki.com/

SCoPE provides scheduled and moderated discussions by volunteers in our community http://scope.lidc.sfu.ca/

Student Bloggers’ Views

College and Finance writes about The Art of BS: How to Succeed on Papers and Essays
http://www.collegeandfinance.com/the-art-of-bs-how-to-succeed-on-papers-and-essays/

Leblanjo describes Experiential Learning in Business Education http://leblanjo.wordpress.com/2007/11/05/experiential-learning-in-business-education/

Wakish, a student at the University of Mauritius blogs about Is a blog the platform you need? http://wakish.info/?p=48

Tools for Active Learning

Conscious Play promotes using an easel http://consciousplay.blogspot.com/2007/11/why-buy-easel.html

Dust and Magic shows a video of Scott Osterweil, Creative Director of the MIT Education Arcade, talking about a new educational game, Labyrinth. http://dustormagic.blip.tv/

Future Making Serious Games discusses Kerpouf, an interactive story/movie maker. http://elianealhadeff.blogspot.com/2007/11/serious-games-to-rethink-what-is.html

Maria Fernandez from Learn a Foreign Language is excited about multimedia pdf, a pdf that at first sight looks like any other, and can be downloaded and saved in the same way, but has got many more features. http://languagebookworld.com/2007/09/multimedia-pdf.html

OEDb: Online Education Database lists 101 Web 2.0 Teaching Tools http://oedb.org/library/features/101-web-20-teaching-tools

Principled Discovery describes a simple circuit that could be constructed at home that responds to student’s answers http://principleddiscovery.com/?p=686

Virtual Hosting suggests The Del.icio.us Toolbox: 50+ Del.icio.us-related Scripts, Tools, and Tutorials http://www.virtualhosting.com/blog/2007/the-delicious-toolbox-50-delicious-related-scripts-tools-and-tutorials/

Thank you to all the people who submitted articles for this month's parade. I find people's ideas and thoughts exciting and uplifting. The next submission date is Jan. 07 at http://blogcarnival.com/bc/cprof_2804.html. The next carnival will be January 12th.